Ruffled Camera Strap Tutorial

Supplies:An old camera strap, for the hardwareHeavy fusible interfacing, the same length and twice the width of your strapFabric the same length and twice the width plus 1” of your strapA strip of fabric approximately 1.5” tall by 45” long for your ruffle

You may want to refer to my Patchwork Camera Strap Tutorial if you want more detail on any of the steps involving removing the hardware from your old strap or reattaching it to the new one.

Cut a piece of heavy fusible interfacing the length and twice the width of your old strap. My strap was 26” X 1.5”, so I cut my interfacing 26” X 3”.

Fuse the interfacing to your fabric.

Trim the short edges flush with the interfacing and the long edges so that there’s 1/4 – 1/2” beyond the interfacing.

Fold both long edges of your 1.5” X 45” ruffle strip in approximately 1/4” and press. I serged my edges first. Set aside.

Yikes. My ironing board is getting NASTY.

Whilst you’re ironing, fold over the fabric edges on your interfaced piece and press them too. I like to use a piece of cardstock along the edge line of the interfacing to get a nice straight crease.

Then fold your strap piece in half the long way and press again.

You should have this now.

Head over to your sewing machine and hem both long edges of your ruffle.

Turn the ruffle strip right side up and sew a long basting stitch (on most machines this will be stitch length 5) right smack down the middle. DO NOT back stitch at the beginning or end.

For this next part, you’ll want to unfold your strap. I couldn’t hold it and get a picture by myself. You’ll be centering your ruffle on one half of the strap, excluding the non-interfaced part.

Line up the ends, middles, and then the middles of each half and pin.

Next pull your bobbin thread only (the one on the bottom) to gather your ruffle strip. Evenly distribute your ruffles (keep the last 1-2” on each end flat) and pin in place.

See how it’s only pinned on half the strap?

Go back to your machine and sew (regular stitch length, backstitching at beginning and end again) right smack down the middle of the ruffle.

Remove your pins and the threads you used for gathering.

At this point I think it would be cute to sew some ric rac or ribbon right down the middle of that ruffle, but I didn’t have anything good in my stash when I was making this. I’m imagining orange or red or hot pink on this one.

Fold your strap back up.

Edge stitch down both long edges, being sure to fold the ruffle out of the way.

Comments

this is darling…all your camera straps are super cute..but the ruffle is a fresh take on them…LOVE it! awesome tutorial too! if i am not lucky enough to win this little cutie…i'll have to try my hand at making my own!xo

I just emailed the link to your other camera straps to my sister this morning around 2:00 (because I'm crazy like that) to see if she would make one for me. It must be fate – I have a feeling this one is for me! Love your blog – it makes me smile.

ha, ha, ha…I was just thinking to myself as I read your post, that sure looks easy but I wish she'd just give one to me instead Don't you know I've got monogramming to do this week while visiting my mom, not camera strap sewing? Hope that strap becomes mine.

Thanks so much for that ruffle tutorial! I've seen ruffles everywhere these days, but haven't been able to understand how you make them until your post! Thanks! Now I need to figure out what to attach ruffles to (as a mom of boys…)

Oh dear! I so want this little lovely:) I just had twin daughters and since have tried to envision the world with ruffles, I dream of ruffles. I would look amazing wearing my camera adorned with ruffles. Did I mention it's lovely?? I attempted making my own strap cover and it turned out way too small, turns out I can't sew well:( Or follow a tutorial. So, please pick me…..

Ive had making a camera strap on my to do list for awhile now and Im so glad I havent done any of them yet because this is absolutely to die for!! I LOVE IT! Im crossing my fingers I win this because I'm not sure my sewing skills are up to par! LOVE IT!!

I think I'm destined to win this adorable ruffled camera strap as my daughter JUST said this afternoon that I needed a fabric camera strap because mine is just boring black! Weird and FATE, I do believe so! Suzie

Wow. Why don't I come up with cool ideas like this? Oh yeah, I'm not very creative! Maybe having this on my camera will inspire me to make more things, and take pictures of what I do. [email protected]

This would be perfect for my sister in law Heather! We're flying out to NYC to surprise her for her birthday and she would love this! It's so cute, I just might be making this for her if I don't win. Thanks for the giveaway!

so i just stumbled upon you and love your crap you've made!! in my former days i would cheerfully attempt this b/c i need one, but the 4 mo. old twins, the 2 yr. old, the 4 yr. old and my oldest 5 year old have put a little dent in my time to be creative. but the tubes are tied and i WILL return someday to make some of your fabulous ideas- keep them coming!

Ohhh, now that is good "crap!" If I don't win, (which I probably won't, & that's okay) I am going to make one of these for my camera. That means my hubby will look uber CUTE when he carries it Thanks for posting "crap" like this, it inspires so many of us!

Just curious… do you happen to sell these? If you did, how much would you sell them for? Would you sell me one even if you don't sell them?? Am I making any sense? I'd LOVE one, as I just purchased a brand new camera and it's heavy! The current strap is not only UGLY, it sort of digs into my neck.

I'd even be willing to post about it and brag about you all over the darn place…

WOW!!! So cute, very gorgeous!! A real ruffle girl is here. I'm so in love with ruffles, plus I love the white and blue pattern. I gotta try this out. I've done craft projects and thought you might want to take a look. Feel free to promote projects on your blog! Stop by: http://www.makemania.com when you get a chance. Take care.

Trackbacks

[...] tutorial with a little padding to make it comfortable. A gorgeous ruffled version is found at Crap I’ve Made She also has a cute patchwork version. And finally the one I think I’m going to try from [...]

[...] I have seen tons of DIY camera straps and knew that I really needed one so I wouldn’t get my camera mixed up with my friends. I searched for tutorials and found a few I liked, but ultimately combined elements from two…Cluck Cluck Sew and Crap I’ve Made. [...]

[...] Char’s tutorial is great – you should check it out. I was over at my mom’s house yesterday and decided to make it at the last second. And of course she didn’t have any ironable Fusible Interfacing (I left mine at home), so I improvised and used non-iron interfacing. I also decided to make mine into a Camera Strap Cover instead of replacing the strap that I have. I was afraid I would totally mess it up and then I wouldn’t have a strap at all – lol. So check out Char’s tutorial for how to make yours into a cute Camera Strap. [...]

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